Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania | |
---|---|
Unincorporated community | |
Coordinates: 39°45′03″N76°13′33″W / 39.75083°N 76.22583°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Pennsylvania |
County | Lancaster |
Township | Fulton |
Elevation | 141 ft (43 m) |
Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
ZIP code | 17563 |
Area code | 717 |
GNIS feature ID | 1183417 [1] |
Peach Bottom is an unincorporated village in Fulton Township, Lancaster County, in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River. [2] [3]
The original town of Peach Bottom was located across the river in York County. With the construction of the Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad up the east side of the Susquehanna (1866–1868), a station was built on the Lancaster County side, near the mouth of Peters Creek, from which Peach Bottom could be reached by ferry. This was known as Peach Bottom Station.
The Peach Bottom Railway had terminals at both Peach Bottom and Peach Bottom Station; a planned bridge to connect them was never built. The line on the east side became the Lancaster, Oxford and Southern Railroad and on the west side, the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad.
When the Conowingo Dam was built (1926–1928), the Columbia and Port Deposit was relocated higher up the hillside, and both Peach Bottom and Peach Bottom Station were submerged. The present village was built a short distance southeast of the site of Peach Bottom Station.
The post office for the area (ZIP code 17563) is named "Peach Bottom" but is located on Pennsylvania Route 272 just north of Wakefield.
The Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station lies across the river, on the site of the original town. In 2016, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) estimated that a major fire at the spent fuel pool at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station would displace an estimated 3.46 million people from 31,000 square kilometers of contaminated land, while a study conducted at Princeton University suggested that the number of displaced people could go as high as 18.1 million people. [4] [5] An earlier study from 1975 assessed the nuclear station's ecological impact on fish fauna along the Susquehanna River. [6]
Fulton Township is a township in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and it is the only municipality in the county to touch the Maryland border. At the 2020 census the population was 3,227. It is part of the Solanco School District.
Gap is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 17527. The population was 1,931 at the 2010 census. U.S. Route 30 passes through the town, which is also the terminus for four Pennsylvania highways: 772, 741, 897, and the heavily used 41, which leads toward Wilmington, Delaware.
Port Deposit is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. It is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River near its discharge into the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 653 at the 2010 census.
Peach Bottom Township is a township in York County, Pennsylvania, 60 miles (97 km) south of Harrisburg. The population was 4,961 at the 2020 census.
The Susquehanna River is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeast states. At 444 miles (715 km) long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the United States. By watershed area, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and also the longest river in the early 21st-century continental United States without commercial boat traffic.
The Conestoga River, also referred to as Conestoga Creek, is a 61.6-mile-long (99.1 km) tributary of the Susquehanna River flowing through the center of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Conowingo Dam is a large hydroelectric dam in the lower Susquehanna River near the town of Conowingo, Maryland. The medium-height, masonry gravity dam is one of the largest non-federal hydroelectric dams in the U.S., and the largest dam in the state of Maryland.
Maryland Route 222 (MD 222) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 11.36 miles (18.28 km) from MD 7 in Perryville north to U.S. Route 1 (US 1) near Conowingo. MD 222 connects Perryville, Port Deposit, and Conowingo along its route paralleling the Susquehanna River in western Cecil County. Due to limitations in the highway in Port Deposit, including a steep hill and a low-clearance railroad bridge, trucks are directed to use MD 275, MD 276, and US 1 through Woodlawn and Rising Sun to connect Interstate 95 (I-95) with US 222 in Conowingo.
Octoraro Creek is a 22.1-mile-long (35.6 km) tributary of the Susquehanna River, joining it 9 miles (14 km) above the Susquehanna's mouth at Chesapeake Bay. The Octoraro rises as an East and West Branch in Pennsylvania. The East Branch and Octoraro Creek form the southern half of the border between Lancaster and Chester counties until the creek crosses the Mason-Dixon line. It winds through northwestern Cecil County, Maryland before joining the Susquehanna.
Transportation in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has a long and variegated history. An early-settled part of the United States, and lying on the route between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, it has been the site of early experiments in canals, railroads, and highways. Before all these, at least ten Native American paths crossed parts of the county, many connecting with the Susquehannock village of Conestoga.
Conowingo Creek is a 20.2-mile-long (32.5 km) tributary of the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Cecil County, Maryland.
Susquehannock State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 224 acres (91 ha) in Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on a scenic plateau overlooking the Susquehanna River and Conowingo Reservoir. The park is named for the Susquehannock people, who lived in the area. Susquehannock State Park is located on small roads a few miles south of Pennsylvania Route 372 and west of Pennsylvania Route 272. The nearest city is Quarryville, Pennsylvania, about 12 miles (19 km) East.
The Peach Bottom Railway was a 19th-century 3 ft narrow gauge railroad in Pennsylvania, designed to haul coal from the Broad Top fields in central Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, but succeeded only in establishing two local short lines.
Muddy Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in York County, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
Wakefield is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Fulton Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 609. It is the largest community within the "Peach Bottom" ZIP code, with the area post office on Pennsylvania Route 272, just north of town.
The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal between Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, and Havre de Grace, Maryland, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, provided an interstate shipping alternative to 19th-century arks, rafts, and boats plying the difficult waters of the lower Susquehanna River. Built between 1836 and 1840, it ran 43 miles (69 km) along the west bank of the river and rendered obsolete an older, shorter canal along the east bank. Of its total length, 30 miles (48 km) were in Pennsylvania and 13 miles (21 km) in Maryland. Although rivalry between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, delayed its construction, the finished canal brought increased shipments of coal and other raw materials to both cities from Pennsylvania's interior. Competition from railroads was a large factor in the canal's decline after 1855. Canal remnants, including a lock keeper's house, have been preserved in Maryland, and locks 12 and 15 have been preserved in Pennsylvania.
Christopher McDougall is an American author and journalist. He is best known for his 2009 book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. He has also written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men's Journal, and New York, and was a contributing editor for Men's Health.
Airville is an unincorporated community in Lower Chanceford Township, York County, Pennsylvania, United States. Airville is located in the southeastern part of the county where Pennsylvania Route 74 and Pennsylvania Route 425 intersect and is approximately four miles outside Woodbine.
Nuclear power has been widely established in Pennsylvania since the 1950s and has grown to provide almost 25% of the energy produced in PA. This is achieved through the four active reactors currently operating. There are five inactive reactors in PA, including Three Mile Island, which had a partial meltdown and caused a reevaluation of nuclear reactor safety practices.